Hey, all! I’m a little late with my posts this week. Things have been craaaazzzzyyy! We have finally finished updating and remodeling one room of our house and are now busy working on another. I’ll be sharing that with you all soon.
In the meantime, I’d like to offer you all some free printables for Christmas- they’re very simple and very colorful. To download, simply right click on the design of your choice and save it to your device. To print, simply use your own printer or use a print shop. For best results, do not print larger than an 8×10.
I’d appreciate it if you would tag me in any posts or projects you may create from my printables. Also, these are for decorative purposes only and must not to be used for the purpose of gaining money or profit.
Simple pine tree.
3. Christmas wreath- O Come Let Us Adore Him
4. Christmas wreath- Merry and Bright
5. O Christmas Tree!
I hope you all have enjoyed my free printables! Join us soon for our Christmas home tour and our living room reveal!
I hope you all had a magnificent Thanksgiving. We took the week off blogging to focus on what really matters- family, fun and FOOD.
The littlest lumber loved eating all the various good foods- especially these cupcakes!
We also spent our Saturday at our church’s Christmas bazaar- see my super cute helper?
We ate not one but four different Thanksgiving dinners in a two-weekend span. It was delicious and wonderful. The company was good, too.
We have been redecorating our living room, which we can hopefully show you soon. For today, we are Black Friday shopping for our two remaining pieces of furniture and then coming home to clean and start our Christmas decorating.
Can’t wait to share our new living room and our Christmas tour! Be safe and have a great weekend!!
I know I said I’d never post a Christmas post before Thanksgiving. And I tried not to, I really did. But everywhere I go, I see so many pretty Christmas things and I just can’t help it. So for that reason, I am going to share some of my recent finds in our local Dollar General. Everything is simple, cute, and very affordable.
Y’all know I am a sucker for the little red truck trend. I love the little red truck with Christmas trees in the back for Christmas and filled with pumpkins for the fall. I managed to find this cute melanine tray for $2 and also this cute little plate. I did end up buying the tray.
I may still buy the plate.
I also found an entire aisle of super cute ornaments for just a dollar each. I’m definitely going to buy some of those buffalo checked stocking ornaments. The little initial ornaments would be cute for decorating packages.
There are also a number of cute tree skirts for $5-$10.
I am also strongly considering buying this Christmas tree topper. A rustic tree would be so cute with this on it and some burlap ribbon.
I would really like to have this pretty table runner, and for $6 I think I will.
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Our kitchen really needs these dish towels, too.
These make such cute hostess gifts for holiday parties and they are super cute for your own use, too.
What super cute Christmas finds have you stumbled upon?
When we last left you, our beautiful antique mantle with its faux firebox looked like this:
Nothing was painted, no stone was laid. Things were kinda bare. And unfinished.
Our first item on the agenda was to paint it.
First, we caulked any cracks or areas we felt needed filling in. We painted the mantle and the adjoining boards behind it with white paint in satin finish.
Next, we installed Airstone to the surround and the bottom of the hearth.
This stuff is amazingly easy and fun to work with. Simply spread the adhesive on the back of the stones like you’re frosting a cake and press into place. You can also cut the stone with a hacksaw or circular saw.
We then laid faux slate vinyl tiles across the top of the hearth. We may upgrade it later to real slate but I am loving how this looks, and how little it cost.
We then painted the faux brick paneling with some matte black chalk paint. I just like the finish.
We still have a few areas to fill in and some trim to add, but all in all, I am loving it!
Stay tuned! The rest of our living room is about to change in a big way, and I can’t wait to show it to you!!
Last month, I told you all about how my husband and I purchased and antique fireplace mantle.
We have a long, blank and boring wall in our living room, that unfortunately is our focal wall when you walk in the door. I’ve always wanted a pretty fireplace on that wall but knew we couldn’t afford a real one. A faux one was the next best thing 🙂
Using a plan from Bless’r House as a model, we decided how large the mantle and hearth would need to be and we purchased the wood.
Here is a list of what we used to build the fireplace:
Antique mantle (found through local antiques dealers)
2 plywood sheets
Faux brick panel
11 2×4 boards
2 1X12 boards
1 2×12 board
Finishing nails
Deck screws
Drywall screws
Tape measure and yard stick
Circular saw
Jigsaw
Hammer
Power drill
We began by deciding how large we wanted the hearth to be and we cut two 2X4sat 64 inches long. We chose 64 inches because this made the hearth a tiny bit wider than the mantle itself. The cross pieces and sides are 24 inches.
We then cut a piece of plywood to fit the top of the hearth, but we did not hammer it down yet.
We then carried the hearth into the house, placed it where we wanted it, and attached it to the baseboards. We then attached the plywood to the top of the hearth.
We then attached plywood strips and two by fours to the back of the mantle.
After attaching the two by fours to the side, and the plywood strips, we cut out a surround from one of the plywood sheets. I attached it using small wood screws.
I then attached 2X4s to the wall at the correct height to the wall. Be sure to hang these on studs, but if you can’t, make sure you use drywall anchors that can accommodate heavy weights.
I then attached the 1X12s for the side braces to the 2x4s.
I then put the mantle up beside these braces, and attached the two by fours on the back of the mantle to the braces. I used decking screws to do this.
I then realized we had about an eight inch gap between the mantle and the wall.
Attaching a 2X6 to this space covered the gap and laid flush with the back of the mantle.
We then cut and added faux brick paneling to the wall behind the mantle and on the sides so that the inside of the mantle couldn’t be seen.
We have nearly finished the mantle. We now only have to paint, add the stone, and fill in some nail holes. Our living room looks so much better already! Can’t wait to share the finished product with you all!
